Wheaton man asks not to be screened as terrorist again

December 22, 2006|By Tonya Maxwell, Tribune staff reporter

A suburban Chicago man who said he often has been detained as a potential terrorist by border patrol agents is expected to appear in federal court Friday morning, where he will ask a judge to help him enter the United States uneventfully next week.

Akif Rahman, 34, of Wheaton plans to drive into the United States from Canada on Dec. 27 and will have his wife, 5-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter in the car, said Edwin Yohnka, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Rahman is asking the court to order that agents not subject him to terrorist screening procedures as he travels through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.

"The idea that my children would have to watch an overzealous, armed guard lead me away is painful for me and for my wife. We are asking the judge to ensure that our trip back is uneventful and safe," Rahman said Thursday at a news conference held by the ACLU.

The ACLU is representing Rahman in a 2005 lawsuit against Homeland Security Department officials, alleging that Rahman, a computer software company owner, has been searched and seized with excessive force at border crossings, violating his constitutional rights.

Rahman, who was born in the United States, is the victim of a crude screening system that is not being adequately managed, ACLU officials have said.

Since Rahman filed the suit, he had not been stopped in border crossings, until Sunday, when agents questioned him in the Toronto airport for an hour, causing him to miss a flight, Yohnka said.

Cherise Miles, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection division of the Homeland Security Department, declined to comment Thursday.

Rahman and his family had been visiting his in-laws who live in the Toronto area, Yohnka said. Rahman was flying to the Chicago area for work when he was held.

Next week, Rahman plans to pick up his children and wife, Yohnka said.

"What they want to avoid is having the children go through this incident, seeing their father led away by armed guards," he said.